The increase in the amount of data stored on digital computing systems has resulted in complex storage systems with data often distributed over multiple physical nodes or storage devices. One method for organizing data has been to store them in files. These files are then grouped into directories with some directories including other directories and/or files. Typically, files and directories are assigned unique identifiers within the file system. In most systems, files and directories are arranged in order to optimize the lookup of a unique identifier given the particular path or name of the file or directory (such as for a downward lookup).
Examples of mapping structures used to organize files and directories in this manner include B−trees, B+trees, Patricia tries, red-black trees, and flat-file directories. However, these types of systems often make the lookup of the path in response to the unique identifier computationally expensive because an examination of many more nodes is required in order to identify the desired file or directory (such as for a reverse lookup).
Because of the foregoing challenges and limitations, there is a need to provide a more efficient manner in which to perform a reverse lookup in a map data structure.